An Alchemist's Desire
by MonksyD
Summary: Forneus, famed alchemist of Thabes, became known as the demon alchemist, creator of horrors. But how did he create his army and the fell creature of despair? How did he go from a praised genius, to a dreaded demon? A dark desire, given fuel by an excited assistant's discovered. Rated M for disturbing imagery and violence later.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one: Impossible problem

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

 **Experiment's log No 16**

 **Another failed attempt. No matter how I much I search these molded tome for the knowledge I seek, none hold the answer. Over and over, I read of dark rites that can raise dead, but few allow control. Most call for a sacrifice of human life too. I seek an army of the dead, if it cost life to raise, then there is no point, it would be better to hire a band of thugs and dress them up in weaponry. Until I find a way, I cannot began to research how to revive that egg, or make it perfect. My assistant has yet to return too. She searches Valentia for the answer, but I doubt she will find it. A mostly barren land filled with settlers that pine at the feet of those two dragons that fancy themselves gods. Nothing of note will come of it. I have little right to criticise though, I haven't come close to a break in my research.**

 **I suppose she may find something in the new land, but I still doubt. The revenants of that land are fueled by the dragon's malice, wild and uncontrollable. I have heard tales of a continent far away, where a necromancer is believed to have raise powerful corpses under his complete control, but those 'deathlords' supposedly required something far beyond what the Council could hope to get me. It almost appears to be impossible, but I know there must be a way to call the dead to life. Hopefully without the use of magic as well. There is a reason why I prefer the minimalist magic approach of alchemy.**

Forneus put down his quill and stood, stretching. He fixed his dark grey robes and left his journal room, putting the one on the table on an old oak bookshelf to the right of him. He began to walk down a stone corridor when a young man rounded a corner and ran up to him.

 _Oh gods, what does he want._

"Master Forneus! Could you read my thesis on the improvement of elixirs? I believe that this new formula could also cure any poison in the drinker's body!" he said.

Forneus took the bound paper and glanced over it with his brown eyes as he continued to walk. He handed it back.

"You can't use Manakete hair in an elixir, they're protected by law. Also pure potassium added to it would make it explode. Do research before you bring something to me." he said coldly.

The man looked down before walking away, dejected.

 _Amateur_

Forneus walked down the corridor and into a large open area. Stone pillars held up the roof as he walked past boxes of supplies.

"Why did they bury me so deep underground. It takes an hour just to leave." he whispered to himself.

Forneus walked down another set of stairs and came to a heavy granite door. He pushed it open, a gust of dry air blowing his neck length greying hair back. He walked into a massive room with a raised platform held over an abyss in it center. The platform was covered with tables, all with different glassware, chemical, gems and metals. Forneus walked into the center of the area and grabbed a handle sticking out of the ground barely. The slab of marble came up easily and Forneus climbed down into the dark room, the freezing air making him shiver. He lit a torch with a strike of flint, lighting the room.

Forneus looked around the room, several bags lay in the corner, a rancid smell leaking from them. Several arcane and transmutational ruins and circles covered the floor. Forneus walked over to a pedestal in the back. He lit another touch, exposing a large chunk of ice. Inside was a black, fist sized egg.

 _One day...I will revive you, and I will make you perfect. My greatest creation. A divine mage dragon…_

Forneus looked at the bags.

 _I told them not to bring them all at once. I can't be expected to work through thirty cadavers within a month. They will rot by then._

Forneus sighed

 _Well, it's the Council that will need to get me more if that happens._

He grabbed a book off a table and began to read it. He sighed again.

"I do hope she is having some luck...anything would be helpful."

* * *

AN: Hey there, I have a new story, one I haven't seen anyone try to do (and if they have, I didn't see it, but I'd love to read it if someone tells me). When I first read Forneus' tablets, I wanted to write something about him, the demon alchemist. I'll try not to butcher Archanea history, in fact I'll try to stay clear unless necessary. It will alternate between him and his assistant. One chapter Forneus, then the assistant, then back. The next chapter will be soon, then there will be a bit of a delay until the next because of collage. Also, does anyone know how to add new characters to fanfiction's character tab thing? I looked everywhere online and can't find a good answer.

Anyway, enjoy.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: Coleopteraic discovery

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

 **Field journal No 5**

 **Myself and the group of mercenaries Master Forneus hired have been travelling this continent for 2 months, and we've yet to find anything. Master did say that there was little chance, but I thought the risk would be worth it. Valentia was mostly a mixed wasteland when we arrived. Desert covering the south and a mix of marsh and tundra to the north. But those dragons, they've changed the land so quickly. I'd love to stay and figure out how they terraformed the land, but my mission is important.**

 **I've studied the zombies that ran rampant across the land and they are interesting. The revenants are powered by a type of magic I've never seen of before. A black, horrid power. I'm surprised it came from 'divine' dragons. They wander aimlessly, completely unbindable. Bonewalkers are more traditional. Novice necromancers trying to help their respective deity. Sturdy, and violent, those idiots died by them turning on them. Nercodragons are, terrifying. No magic revived them. The dragons refused to accept their death at the hands of the warring siblings, killed by the crossfire. They dragged themselves out of the grave, their undeath fueled by hate. They are resilient. We encountered one and it was a nightmare. Swords bounced off their scales, lances fail to pierce their hide, axes shattered from their exposed bone. Even my elder magic had little effect, it shrugged off flux with ease. If Dominic hadn't gotten a lucky arrow hit to its working eye, we would have most likely died. The trip has been a mess. We're approaching the end of the newly shrunk Zofian desert and from there we wi-**

Dawn's quill scraped across the page as the wagon she was in suddenly stopped and she fell forward, spilling her inkwell as well. She clambered to her feet and looked out the front of the wagon.

"What the hell?! I just ruined part of my journal!" she shouted angrily.

A bald, gruff man in blue leather turned to her.

"Sorry little miss mage, but a stone damaged a wheel." he said with a frown.

Dawn fixed her arm length crimson hair and jumped out of the wagon. She instantly felt the immense heat from the sun and pull up her dark salmon pink cloak hood.

"If we miss the boat, we'll have to wait three days for another!"

"I know that, but that fact doesn't fix the wheel, does it?" he asked throwing his bow over his shoulder.

"Will you two stop and help?!" a brown haired man in heavy armour asked, holding up the wagon as a blond woman in ornate armour undid the wheel.

"Yeah, I'll need help trying to stick this back together." the blond woman said.

"Dawn, help Bella with the wheel." he said.

"Dominic, I'll a dark mage and apprentice alchemist, not a carpenter."

Bella rolled the wheel over.

"Yes, but you're more help then my pegasus."

Dawn turned to the wheel and looked at it. A piece had broken off and taken a spoke with it and cracked it's center. She sighed. Just as she was about to speak, someone yelled. They all turned to a black haired cavalier ride up to them with a bloodied axe.

"Help! There's something weird after me!" he yelled.

"Victor, what do you mean? Give details." the brown haired man said.

"I went to get help like you asked Rowan, then this big lizard attacked me and even after I slashed it loads, it kept going! I bisected the bloody thing and was still alive!"

Dawn walked over.

"Where is it?"

As she asked, a black lizard crawled over the hill a bit away. It was leaving a trail of blood and had its organs being slowly ripped out by a crow on it's back. It had something on it's face.

"What the…?" Rowan whispered.

Dawn walked over to it and pulled out a black tome. She held her hand in the air as the book opened. Dark energy flowed out of the book and made a black, ink-like bubble above her.

"Flux!"

The darkness melted in streaks and formed a shadow on the ground that quick shifted to under the lizard. It reformed the bubble around it and exploded, the energy ripping the lizard apart. Blood soaked into the sand as the crow, dazed, wandered off the body. The body twitched for a second before stopping. Dominic walked over.

"Well, is it death?"

Dawn kicked it. It didn't move.

"Good, now, back to the wagon."

Dawn ignored him and crouched down. She examined it's head and saw a black beetle. She grabbed it and pulled. It detached from the lizard and began struggling.

"Hmm…"

"Dawn, what's wrong?" Bella asked.

Dawn grabbed the crow and broke it's neck.

"D-Dawn!" Victor gasped.

Dawn held the beetle next to the crow. It shot out tendrils and pulled itself onto the crows head. The crow began to struggle and twist unnaturally. Dawn turned to the shocked group.

"Someone try to kill it."

Rowan stepped forward.

"Dawn, what are you doing, we need to get the wagon fixed or-"

"Someone. Try. To. Kill it."

Bella drew her sword and stabbed it. It continued to struggle as though nothing happened. Dawn ripped it's head off and the body went limp. The head squawked and shifted for a couple of seconds before stopping. Dawn pulled the beetle off and held it up to her emerald green eyes.

"Interesting. New plan. I need all of you to help me find more of these."

"Why?" Rowan asked.

"Because I think this thing can control dead animals. And Master Forneus would probably love to study these."

"The boat? We'll miss it." Dominic said crossing his arms.

"I currently don't care." she answered, walking away.

The group looked at each other before following her.

 _Master...I think I found my breakthrough._

 **4 hours later**

Dawn held a leather bag that moved occasionally and walked back to the wagon. The four of them all held similar bags, varying in fullness. Vector shivered.

"These things are creepy."

"Yeah, they were swarming a camel corpse when I found some." Rowan added.

"Well Dawn, thanks to your little beetle hunt, the boat is leaving and we're still in the desert, two hours away with a broken wheel."

"Don't worry, you'll be payed of the extra days." Dawn said walking over to the wheel.

"Now, let's fix this thing."

Dominic shrugged and walked over as Rowan lifted the wagon. Bella and Vector began examining the underside to ensure there wasn't any other damage.

 _Heh he he, Master Forneus is going to be so excited._ Dawn thought.

* * *

AN: Whoops, slight idiot moment...forgot the AN. The only thing I really have to say anyway is that the next chapter won't be super soon due to busyness.  
Anyway, enjoy.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three: Experimental hope.

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

 **One week later**

Forneus sat in his journal room and grabbed an empty one. As he sat down, there was a knock on the door. He sighed and stood up and unlocked the door. It was always locked. No one must know of his dreams.

"What is it, there is a sign on the door for a reason." he said to a young man in full brass armour.

"I'm sorry to bother you Mister Forneus, but a young woman payed me to fly all the way from Valentia. She said that you must get these straight away." he announced producing a letter and a leather bag.

"Oh, I see, thank you."

Forneus took them both and closed the door. He put the bag down and opened the letter.

'Dear Master,

I'm writing you this letter as I will be delayed getting back from the expedition. We missed the boat due to the wagon being damaged, but I made a fascinating discovery. The bag I sent with this letter contains a small number of beetles we found in the Zofian desert. They appear to be able to control dead bodies. We had an incident in which a bisected lizard that continued to pursue and attack despite being, bisected. I will try to get back to Thabes as soon as possible. I have more beetles.

From Dawn'

Forneus stood still for a few minutes, stunned. Slowly, his face twisted into a large grin. Then he began to chuckle, which warped into a mad laugh.

 _Dawn! I never should have doubted you!_

Forneus grabbed the bag and his journal and ran out of the room. He quickly ran down to his large, open laboratory and barred the door. He quickly pulled open the hatch and climbed into his secret, freezing room. Grabbing a body bag, he throw it up onto the platform. He put his journal down and opened the body bag. He put the stiff body on a table and sat beside it with his journal

 **Pre-experiment log No 17**

 **Today marks a hopeful day. My assistant has sent me a bag of beetles from Zofia. She claims that they can control the dead, and I aim to test all aspects of this claim.**

Forneus grabbed the leather bag and opened it. He grabbed a beetle and examined it.

 **The creature is approx. 8cm in length and 3cm in width. It is black in colour and has six legs. It is similar in appearance to a stag beetle but has an odd cavity in it's abdomen.**

Forneus put it down on the table and grabbed a hammer. He attempted to smash the beetle, but it's exoskeleton only cracked. He struck it again and it was smashed to pulp. Forneus grabbed another and placed it down. He held it in place and felt for a knife, which he used to stab it. It pierced it easily.

 **They are resistant to blunt force and susceptible to precise strikes as expected.**

Forneus felt in the bag for another. He pulled up one and looked in the bag. There was two more. Forneus held it over the corpse and a tendril shot out of the beetle. It pulled itself onto the body and scuttled up to it's head. It sat down and after a few seconds. The corpse opened it's eyes and began to shift, struggling against the rigamortus.

 **Amazing! Truly amazing! It seems Dawn was correct. The beetle can launch a tendril and can somehow control a body by attaching to it's head. I will need to examine it to see how it operates.**

As Forneus wrote, the body got up and climbed off the table. He glanced over. It turned towards him and Forneus saw that it's scapula had gone black. It released a guttural roar and jumped at him. He ducked and it slammed into a wooden table, smashing it. Forneus got to his feet and took out a red book. It opened and began to flip through pages. A magic circle appeared in the air and he took a step back. A ball of fire formed and launched at the creature. It hit it's chest, leaving a deep burn, but it didn't flinch. Forneus quickly ran up to it and slashed it with his knife. Crimson blood with a hint of black oozed from the wounds as it continued to stare. He stabbed it through the bottom of the jaw. It simply shuddered in place.

"Now then, will you please redie?" he asked stabbing the beetle on it's head.

The corpse released a horrid screech before falling to the ground. Forneus dragged the body back to the table.

 **The body appears to be resistant to damage, able to endure serious injury. This matches Dawn's account with the bisected lizard. But the beetle is the weak point. If it dies, so does the body. Now, next I will examine the newly dead body to determine how its control functions.**

Forneus walked over to a table and retrieved a scalpel. He began to dissect the body.

 **2 hours later**

Forneus stood up straight. The body had been cleared out mostly. He picked up his journal.

 **How the beetle operates is, fascinating. Upon being placed on a cadaver, it lays down its "roots". A long, thicker tendril enters the body and splits into multiple. It pierces the brain at the cortex and extends into the spinal cord. From there, it exerts it's control. It seems to supply the brain with electric impulses and partly restarts it. The tendril in the spine then also releases a pulse, albeit weaker. It uses the nerves to control muscles. Even after death, it still releases them, but much weaker. I need to dissect another one to continue figuring out how this marval works, but my supply is limited. I will wait for Dawn to return with more.**

Forneus closed the journal and grabbed the corpse's arm. He threw it into the abyss below, never to be seen again.

 _Alright, this is a good start. These beetles can control completely organically. But this raises a question, can I control them?_

Forneus looked at his robes.

 _But first, time to change._

He undid the door and ran up to the ninth level, past his journal room. He walked down a side path and came to a room filled with identical cloaks. He quickly took off his bloodied ones and throw them into a furnace to the side. He put on a fresh set, left and began to climb the eternal stairs to leave the labyrinth that was Thabes' central citadel.

 _I must tell the council to prohibit entry to the eighth, ninth and tenth floors down here. I need peace if I'm to learn more of the beetles...uhh, they need a name. I cannot risk someone finding one of the creatures._ Forneus thought as he continued to walk through the winding underground structure.

* * *

AN: I'm nearly done my project that is keeping me busy. I hope people are liking the story.  
Anyway, enjoy.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four: Death masks

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

 **One week later**

Dawn climbed the stone staircase leading up to the citadel, holding two bags full of the gathered beetles and with a rucksack with her journeys on her back. The mercenary group followed behind her.

"I've never been to Thabes before." Victor said as he looked around at the large desert city.

"It's alright I suppose." Rowan said with a shrug, avoiding a hoard of old looking sages.

"It is the head of the magic world. Mages from around the world strive to study here. You're lucky to have been allowed into the city." Dawn stated turning her head slightly.

"I was never one for magic, much prefer a bow." Dominic said.

They reached the entrance to the citadel. Dawn lead them inside. The entryway was a wide stone corridor with a central staircase going down and multiple exits to the left and right.

"Go straight down here until you find a large, carved door. That's where the Council are. Ask for senator Alexander. He will give you the extra money you're owed." Dawn explained pointing to the third right.

As they left, Dawn walked over to staircase and began to descend. She came to a large drop off.

 _They really need to fix these drop offs, you can fall down to next floor from these...and break your legs._

Dawn continued to descend deeper underground, passing monks, mages and dark mages, all running from room to room with books and equipment. She avoided most of them and came to the staircase to the eighth floor, but it was blocked by a valkyrie and mage knight.

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked walking up to them.

"Greetings Miss Dawn, we're here to prevent anyone except Forneus and you from going deeper. He told the Council he was working on something dangerous." The mage knight said.

"Hmm, got it."

Dawn walked past them and continued deeper.

 _He's already started? Master must be excited._

Dawn turned into a side room filled with stacks of unorganised books. A metal shield made of brass sat on a table along with several concoctions. She dumped her rucksack on the floor and continued down to the ninth floor. She came to Forneus' study and and knocked. No one answered. Dawn went down to the tenth floor and as she began to walk to his lab, she noticed someone, or something. It shambled from side to side, as though it was looking for something. It had grey, pale skin. It turned to Dawn. It wore a metal mask, with black mist leaked from it's mouth and bright red eyes glowed in the mask's eye slits. It growled and began to run at her, widely swinging a purple tinted sword. Dawn backed away from it as it approached but then the door behind it opened. Forneus stepped out.

"You! Come back! NOW!" he yelled.

The creature stopped and turned to Forneus before slowing walking into the room. He gave a satisfied smile. Dawn ran after him.

"Master Forneus! W-What is that?" she asked.

"I call it...a death mask. Are those more of the beetles?" he asked pointing to the bags.

"Yes Master. But what's a death mask?"

Forneus took the bags and handed Dawn a journal.

"Go and read this. Return once you have. It will make sense then. And Dawn, you made a brilliant discovery."

Dawn blushed slightly and ran out of the room. She ran up to her study and sat at the table.

 **Project 1 Death Mask army**

 **My assistant has provided me with what I needed most to create my army. I call them death masks as the reanimation trigger is protected within the mask they wear. A peculiar beetle is the key component of the death mask. I have settled on the name thanatophage for them. When placed on a cadaver, they set down their roots and assert control. When first created, death masks are little more than wild animals. They approach and attack anything in sight. But with the two current death masks, I decided to test a theory. Are they mindless, or untrained. At first, they refused to obey any command, instead they just lashed out at me. But by chance, I made a discovery. I had a body out, ready to be disposed of, but one of the death masks wandered over as I was about to throw it away. I continued to move the body, but I noticed it seemed to follow it. I let go of the body and the death mask started to approach it. I ordered it to stop, twice and it did. I told it it could have the body. The mask proceeded to begin eating it. I ordered it to stop, and when it refused I took the body off it. I repeated this several times and soon the death mask was listening to my commands. This proves my theory that they aren't mindless. The other death mask then arrived and began to run at me. I ordered the first to stop moving as so I wouldn't harm it in the ensuing fight, but to my surprise, the second death mask stopped and looked at it's brethren that had stopped, and mimicked it. This has lead me to an idea I cannot wait to test, can I use the trained death masks to mass train the rest to bend to my will.**

 **Over the next few days, I noticed something odd. The death masks had had a pale white complexion, but it was slowly turning to a dark grey, almost purple colour. A black mist was also beginning to leak from any open orifice. Then one wandered up to the eighth floor. I ordered it back down but it proceeded to take a very...direct route. It fell down to the ninth floor from that dangerous ledge and broke the body's neck. I ran down to it and after a few seconds, it ceased moving. I went to grab the mask when suddenly, it's body began to melt into a purple goo that instantly evaporated into the purple mist. I'm still puzzled as to why that happened, but I must wait for Dawn to bring me more thanatophages. Once I have fully learned how to control the death masks, I can begin to work on my second project. I must ask senator Gwendalin how my request for the blood is going.**

Dawn finished reading the journal and put it down.

 _Master Forneus was busy the last week. With all the beetles I brought him, he can test out even more theories._ Dawn stood up and began walking down to the tenth floor _But what did Master mean about the blood?_

Dawn quickly returned to Forneus' laboratory and found him placing masks on five corpses. As she walked up behind him, they all began to struggle and shift in place.

"Master, I've read your journal. I'm impressed you managed to do so much with only five thanatopages." she said.

"Thanatophages. Phages, not pages." he corrected, not even looking at her.

"Oh, sorry. But Master, what did your journal mean about getting blood?"

Forneus suddenly tensed up, before slowing turning around.

"N-Nothing Dawn, just another experiment I plan on doing soon."

As they talked, the death masks shambled to their feet. Forneus turned to them and ordered the trained one over to him. Dawn noticed that two more bodies were to the left of her. The death masks turned to them and began to walk towards them.

"Stop!" Forneus ordered.

The grey skinned one stopped moving and the five others slowed and looked at it before stopping. Forneus smiled.

"Go there!" Forneus ordered, pointing to the right.

The grey one wandered to the right and after a few second, the others followed.

"Now eat."

The trained death mask ran over to the bodies, with the five other quickly following.

"It's so odd that they mimic each other." Dawn whispered.

"Yes, but it will make mass training an army easy."

"Yeah, when the council sees the army you made for them to protect the city, they probably add you straight to that hall of magical geniuses or whatever it's called!" Dawn yelled excitedly.

"What?!" Forneus asked in a harsh tone.

"You...you said that this was for the Thabes' army, so mages didn't have to fight in wars. A powerful, cheap army...right?"

Forneus inhaled sharply.

"Ahh, yes, sorry. I've been consumed in making the death masks that I forgot their purpose. But Dawn, you can't tell anyone about the death masks yet. I'll reveal them when they're ready." Forneus said.

"Okay, sorry Master. Well, I'm going to go work on my binding and sealing techniques." Dawn said leaving.

"I don't think you'll ever get that shield to work Dawn."

"Well, I'm going to keep trying! I'll make a breakthrough one day!"

And with that, Dawn ran out of the room.

* * *

AN: My project thing is finished, I'll try to update this a bit more often. I mean I was supposed to release this on Friday, then I went on a trip...oh well.  
Anyway, enjoy.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five: Divine blood

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

As Dawn ran out of the room, Forneus sighed.

 _Well then, that was close. I must be more careful._

He turned to the death masks, who were still eating.

"Stop!"

The grey skinned death mask stopped and stood up. After a few seconds, the others copied it. Forneus grabbed the bodies and dragged them out of the room.

"Follow."

Forneus walked to a small side room up the flight of stairs from his lab. He threw the bodies into it and the death masks chased after them. He closed and barred the door.

 _Now then, with all but figuring out why death masks melt and evaporate if killed after a few days, I can begin to consider options for my greatest creation. First though, I must get that blood._

Forneus walked up to the eighth floor and as he passed the room that Dawn used as a workshop. She also liked to call it organised He peeked it. Dawn was trying to stack her new journals onto a tall pile of books and journals.

"You really need to come up with a better filing system."

Dawn jumped as he spoke, knocking into the pile and it toppled over.

"Damn it…" she whispered.

Forneus chuckled and continued to the surface. Several people bowed as he passed them. He reached the top of the stairs and quickly went down a corridor to his left. He came to set of ten doors on either side of the hallway and knocked on the one with 'senator Gwendalin' engraved on it. A woman with greying ginger hair opened the door and stepped back when she noticed who it was. Forneus walked into the room and she closed and locked the door. The room had only a table, three chairs and one window in it. A stray pages sat on the table. Gwendalin sat on a chair.

"Umm, so, what does the great Forneus want with me?" she asked nervously.

"You know exactly why I'm here. I wish to know if you have managed to fulfill my request?" Forneus answered in an annoyed tone.

"Ahh, yes...that. Uhh, Forneus, before we continue, you must tell me why you want Divine Manakete blood."

Forneus didn't answer.

"Please Forneus! It has been hell trying to get it! After the whole problem with Medeus, Anri and the earth dragons, the divine dragon tribe all but vanished. Very few know even a little about what became of them. Humans and Manaketes relations are in ruins. Before we continue, you must tell me something!" Gwendalin stated rubbing her forehead.

"I need it for an experiment. Their blood holds great power, I wish to test it to see if the rumors are true." Forneus lied.

She sighed and looked from left to right before standing up. She walked over to a bag that sat in the corner that he didn't notice before. She reached in and took out a glass vial of blood. Inside it swirled around as though it was in a current.

"Listen to me. You are to ensure no one knows you have this, no one. Not any other Council member, not your assistant, no one. If anyone finds out you have this, your life is over, your research is over, everything. No amount of sway The Great Forneus' name has will save you. Do you understand." she warned.

"Perfectly."

Forneus took the vial and put in a pocket in his cloak and stood up.

"Thank you for your assistance." he thanked, leaving the room.

Gwendalin didn't respond, only looking down at the table.

Forneus walked back to the stairs but as he was about to go down, someone tapped his shoulder. He turned to see a blond haired woman in ornate armour.

"Hello mister Forneus."

"Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Belle, you hired me and my friends to guard Dawn on her trip."

"Okay, what do you want." he asked, irritated.

"Okay, so, because our wagon got damaged, the five of us got stranded in the Zofian desert. Because of that, we found and then Dawn made us gather these weird beetles which made it so we missed the boat back. She said that this senator Alexander would give us the money for the extra days, but he won't unless one of you signs this." she explained handing him a page and quill.

Forneus' eye twitched.

 _She got the mercenaries to help her...fantastic..._

Forneus signed the paper. He then quickly ran down the stairs, leaving Belle confused by his behaviour.

 _If them knowing about the thanatophages causes problems, I'll kill her._

He rushed back down to his lab and barred the bar. Forneus sat down on a stool and took out the vial of blood. He grabbed an empty journal.

 **Perfect being log No 1**

 **At last, blood from a divine dragon. Even in it's vial, I can feel it's power. This is exactly what I need. Mage and earth dragons are said to have so much life force that they can resurrect themselves fully back to life if killed, and divine dragons are immensely powerful and difficult to kill, recovering from wounds in seconds. Combining both together, along with the mage dragon's resistance to magic, it would create a being nigh-invincible. The thought excites me to no end. A hybrid dragon, as powerful as a god. Combining it with the frozen egg is the simple part, reviving the egg is another. The baby inside didn't have enough energy to revive itself. It makes sense, it only being an egg, but it rises the question on how to give it life so I can infuse it with the blood. I need to research more powerful necromancy spells. Although the death masks solve my dream of an undead army, I still must bring the egg back to fully life.**

Forneus put the journal down and climbed down into the underneath area. He placed the blood in a holding rack next to the block of ice and began to search through piles of books that littered the room.

 _Once I find a way to give it life, I'll get Dawn to go request more bodies. I need to make more death masks._

Forneus chuckled.

 _To think, blocked from continuing for so long, and within a few weeks, my projects are moving at great speed._

* * *

AN: Turns out you should pay attention to due dates...anyway hope people are enjoying the story.  
It turns out writing something with little to no pre-established frame work is hard for me. At least with the previous stuff I wrote I had some baseline story. This, this I'm working off 17 stone tablets and some shaky lore.

Anyway, enjoy.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six: Shield of binding

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

 **3 weeks later.**

Dawn stood over the table in her workshop, staring at the brass shield in front of her. She scowled at it before closing a journal full of poorly scribbled notes.

 _I hate this stupid thing! Why is so hard to figure out!_

She grabbed a page with a drawing of a shield with a dragon design on it and five orbs embedded in it.

 _Mine looks like it! Sort of..._

"If some dragon can do it, so can I! I know sealing magic, I just need to get it to stick to this bloody thing!" she yelled at herself.

She grit her teeth and made an angry face.

"Oh look at me, I'm Naga. I can make a shield that can seal dragons! I'm so powerful and stuff!" she said in a mocking voice.

Dawn continued to pace angrily for a minute before stopping and sighing.

 _I can do this. I sealed that perverted mage's magic away for a week with that charm. I just need to make it stronger, and more permanent. Then people could ride into battle with Dawn's shield of binding and seal away dangerous threats. It'll save people! So all I have to do is figure out how Naga made such a powerful spell and affixed it to that shield of seals._

Dawn picked up her messy journal and began writing down ideas for the problem.

 **Possible problems list.**

 **Material.**

 **Magic type.**

 **Gemstones.**

 **Species difference.**

 **Age.**

 **Material: I had the shield forged in brass as what little I could find out about the shield was that it was a shiny brass colour. Since then I have learned that it was apparently made from a dragon tooth or bone, so possibly those are more easily enchanted.**

 **Magic type: I am a user of dark, or elder magic as it is sometimes known, while Naga appears to have used light magic. Hexes have trouble being put on some objects, but possible the light magic equivalent does not have the same problem.**

 **Gemstones: The shield that sealed away the earth dragons had odd orb cut gems embedded in it. This may help with the binding magic.**

 **Spec-**

A knock on Dawn's door made her look up. She walked over and undid the lock. Four senators stood outside.

"Umm...hi. Isn't down here meant to be blocked?" she asked.

"Well, yes, but we must speak with Forneus." A young looking man said "It has been a month since level eight, nine and ten have been blocked. People are wondering why we are to keep these floors off-limits. So, we must see what is so dangerous as to require it."

"Master is on the tenth floor I think, but-" as Dawn spoke, the four began to leave.

"Thank you." they said leaving.

Dawn watched as they walked away.

 _I hope Master Forneus is ready to show off the death masks._

Dawn picked up her journal.

 **Species difference: A glaring difference between the both of us is Naga is Manakete/dragon, and I'm human. Maybe this has created a power distance between us that I must overcome in order to make something like this.**

 **Age: Nag-**

Suddenly a scream echoed through the corridor outside. Dawn jumped and ran out the door. The scream was coming from the lower floors. Dawn ran down to the ninth and then tenth floor, eventually coming to the stairway down to Forneus' lab. As she was about to go down, she saw who was screaming. The young senator was struggling to push a death mask off him, a large bite on his left shoulder weakening it. He glanced at Dawn.

"H-Help me!"

Dawn ran over and grabbed the death mask's arm.

"Let him go! Listen to me! LET HIM GO!" Dawn ordered.

The death mask turned to her and pushed her back. It slashed at her with an axe and gave her cut across her stomach. She fell over and the death mask began to stab the senator rapidly. Dawn pulled up a dark book from her belt and channelled magic from it. A complex symbol appeared beneath her and her hand glowed purple.

"Waste!"

A shadowy cloud surrounded the death mask and it was hit back, an impact indenting it's shoulder.

"Waste!"

Another impact hit it's head, shattering it's mask. Dawn grabbed a dagger from under her cloak and threw it at the now exposed thanatophage. The death mask staggered back before collapsing, melting into mist. Dawn quickly got up and ran over to the senator.

"T-The...oth-others...h...e" he whispered before dying.

Dawn ran into Forneus' lab holding her wound and found Forneus looking into a hatch in the floor.

"Master! What happened?!"

Forneus looked at her.

"Simple. These four idiots set the death masks off. They killed three of them but one escaped." he said coldly.

"He's dead too...I tried to save him but…" Forneus held up his hand.

"It doesn't matter. Dawn, you can't tell anyone what happened here."

"What?! But Master, four of the Council are dead! We have to explain what happened!"

"No we don't. They never arrived. Do you understand?" Forneus said.

"But…"

"Get an elixir for that wound." Forneus ordered climbing into the hatch.

Dawn stood still for a couple of minutes before her wound began to hurt more. She wandered out of the lab and came to the senator's body.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered.

Dawn walked up to the ninth floor and walked into a side room that had two fountains in it. Several boxes littered the floor. She grabbed an elixir from a box and drank it. Her wound closed. She wandered over to one of the fountains and sat on it's edge.

 _Why did that have to happen..._

Dawn sat in silence, just looking at the water.

* * *

AN: Here's a new chapter. Between bouts of still having trouble figuring out what to write for this, I've not felt great lately. Sorry if it is not exactly brilliant. I think I have an idea for the next chapter or two though.  
Anyway, enjoy.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven: Perfect life

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

Forneus landed in the frozen storage area and looked at the three bound senators.

"Forneus! Let us go you insane dastard!" one yelled.

"How could you lie to her! She's probably blaming herself for our 'deaths'!" another shouted, struggling.

"Will you all shut up. Dawn will be fine. She has a strong mind, she'll get over it." Forneus said walking over to the ice block.

He grabbed the large block of ice and heaved it over to an arcane circle. He then grabbed one senator and dragged them onto the edge of a triangle surrounding it. He dragged the other two to the other corners.

"W-What are you doing?" one asked nervously.

"I need to restore this egg to life, and I found a ritual in the books I've been scouring for months that is similar to nosferatu that transfers all the life force from one being to another, none wasted. I'm going to use you to revive the egg, then I'm going to transmute this blood into it to create a perfect being." Forneus explained.

They went wide eyed.

"Are you fuc-!" Forneus kicked him in the mouth.

"I will not have swearing or profanities."

Forneus grabbed a red tome and placed it on the ice. He slashed it with curved dagger and it began to spark. The tome started leaking lava, lighting the tome on fire and melting the ice. It quickly melted and left the dark fist-sized egg sitting on the ground. He smiled.

"Time to begin."

Forneus picked up a heavy book and opened it to a bookmarked page. He began to read from it as black energy leaked from it's pages. The arcane circle lit up and the egg began to float into the air. The senators looked around, worry etched on their faces. Forneus smiled as dark smoke began to form underneath the senators. The triangle lit up and the senators began to struggle. The worry faded from their faces as they contorted in pain, followed by screams. After a few seconds, a purple liquid began to flow out of their mouths as black blood leaked from their noses and eyes. The purple liquid surrounded the egg and began to soak into it. The senator's struggling grew weaker as their bodies began to waste away, muscle fading to expose the bone beneath the flesh. They stopped moving as the last of the liquid sank into the egg. In fell slowly to the ground and Forneus picked it up. It was warm to the touch. He chuckled.

"Thank you for the help." he said walking by the dry, wrinkled husks of the senators.

Forneus walked over to the vial of divine dragon blood and grabbed it. He placed the egg on a transmutation circle and poured the blood onto it. Placed his hands on the circle and forced some magic to flow into the circle. The egg and blood glew a dull white before suddenly increasing to a blinding light as a pulse of energy blew Forneus back, destroying the multiple circles in the room, knocking over several tables and disintegrating the husks. Forneus rubbed his eyes as his vision returned.

 _Okay, the blood is very powerful...should have been more careful._

Forneus glanced up and saw that the hatch had been blown off the roof.

 _Much more careful._

Forneus stood up and looked towards the egg. It's once black shell had been half bleached a greeny white and a small hole was in it. As he walked over, the egg rocked from side to side before a crack formed in its side. Forneus smiled as the egg slowly hatched.

"Yes...yes…! It's alive. Come now, hurry up! I wish to see my creation!"

After a few seconds, the side of the egg broke open and two thin wings poked out. After another second, a head popped free from the shell. Then as Forneus leaned in for a closer look, a black pulse of energy shattered the rest of the egg, the baby dragon flopping out onto the stone ground. Forneus scooped it up and climbed out into the darkness to observe it.

He placed it on a table and looked at it, slightly puzzled. It's scales were mostly pitch black, with slight purple accents running through it. Two horns the size of it's head sat on either side of it's head, starting from it's neck. It lacked legs or arms, with only three pairs of feathered wings on its side. The wings looked deformed, like elongated hands. Forneus then noticed that it had six eyes, all glowing red. It opened it's mouth and released a high pitched squeak, trying to roar. He saw that it appeared to have two jaws. It spat a small ball of black energy.

"Hmm...maybe that spell did have side effects." he whispered "But that doesn't matter I guess. After all, you're alive!"

Forneus pick it up and held it up to his face.

"Welcome little divine mage dragon. You seem to be in good health. Now all you need is a name, my perfect creation."

It looked around before trying to bite his nose. He smiled.

"Well then, until you're a bit older, I thinks you should stay in this." he whispered to the dragon picking up a large bird cage.

After placing it in the cage with a slab of meat, which it began to tear apart, Forneus picked up a journal.

 **Perfect being log No 5**

 **I've done it. I've resurrected the egg and given life to my creation. It is quite small currently, but that is to be expected, it is just a baby. With this success, I've fulfilled my two desire's to their minimum. The death masks shall be my army, and the dragon shall be a perfect being.**

 **Although, there are a few oddities. The most prevalent one is my creation. It appears that the spell deformed parts of it. It hopefully won't make a difference. It lacking appendages is still a problem though. Another problem is that the hoard of death masks can't grow anymore as I've ran out of thanatophages. I have an army of 200 but I did not think to try to breed them. I'll need to find a way to remove them without making the body melt and kill the thanatophage. I have the bodies but-**

Forneus stopped writing and looked at the journal.

"This is meant for notes on the creation, not the death masks…" he grumbled to himself.

He crossed out the title and wrote **completed projects** on the front. He sighed and looked at the baby dragon.

"Hmm...I think...Grima suits you. My perfect little divine creation. You'll be more powerful than those 'gods' of Valentia, and that Naga."

The dragon looked up.

"Gr...im...a…? Div...in...e...go...d..." it whispered inaudibly.

* * *

AN: I'm sad to say that this story doesn't have a lot left to it. I mean, I knew it won't be very long, but still, this story's probably only going to be 3 more chapters.  
Anyway, enjoy.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight: Darkness revealed

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

Several weeks passed in what felt like seconds. Dawn sat at her desk, staring at a journal. She had bags under her eyes.

 _I can't get anything to work...I haven't seen master in weeks...I can't sleep...everything's going wrong._ She thought.

Dawn closed the journal and walked out of her workshop. She wandered over to the stairs to the ninth floor. She saw a death mask wander by.

 _Why is he letting them roam around?_

She turned and began to ascend out of Thabes' underground labyrinth.

 _What probably doesn't help is that I haven't been outside in weeks._

As Dawn wandered though the different floors, she noticed that there was a lot less people around. As she reached the ground floor and walked up to the entrance, someone called her name. She turned to see senator Gwendalin walking after her.

"Miss Dawn! Finally, someone from down there. The Council most speak with you."

"W-Why…?" she asked nervously.

"Because a situation has developed that we need your help for." she walked away as she finished.

Dawn reluctantly followed her to the Council's meeting room. A large open room with twenty raised seats. Arcane symbols for the five magic types glew on the roof. As Dawn entered, Gwendalin sat down and she noticed that four seats were empty. She felt a pit in her stomach. An ancient looking, bald sage stood up.

"Ahh, so the great Forneus' assistant finally appears. After both of you stopped coming up, I thought one of you had killed the other." he said in a sarcastic tone.

"For gods sake Atreus! This is important!" another old man said.

"Fine. Dawn, several weeks ago, we sent four senators down to check on Forneus' and his experiments. None of them returned. So, we wish to know, what happened to them. Depending on your answer, this situation may be over in a few minutes, or could worsen." Atreus said, leaning towards Dawn.

Dawn looked at the ground for a few seconds before swallowing.

 _I-I can't hide this..._

"They...they showed up looking for Master Forneus, and after I said that he was in his lab, they left. After a minute, I heard screaming."

The senators looked at each other.

"I went down to investigate and...and found a death mask, a reanimated body controlled by a beetle, killing one of the senators. I tried saving him, but it injured me and killed him. I rushed into the lab and master said that they had killed the other three too. He said not to tell anyone...but I haven't been able to work properly seen then, I can't sleep...I can't forget his face." Dawn explained.

The senators began to mutter among themselves. Atreus turned to her.

"How many 'death masks' are there?"

"I don't know...if he used all the thanatophages...hundreds."

"Dawn, people have been vanishing from the seventh floor. A foul stench has been coming from deep within the citadel's depths. If all you said is true...then this is far worse than we thought."

"What are you going to do?" Dawn asked.

"Simple. You are going to investigate the ninth and tenth floor, report back, and then we're going sent these mercenaries to bring Forneus to us." Atreus gestured to the side as Dominic, Vector, Rowan and Belle stepped into view.

"I'm guessing the bugs were a bad idea?" Dominic asked.

Dawn just looked away.

"Why me?"

"Because Forneus probably won't kill you on sight."

Dawn left the room and headed to the stairs. A sense of dread came over her as she descended.

Dawn ran down to the ninth floor and immediately noticed a change in atmosphere. Although it had always been quiet, she felt like there was another presence everywhere around her. A crushing feeling of malice and despair. She shivered.

 _Why does it feel like this? It never did before._

She continued through the floor and came to a pack of death masks. They shuffled from side to side, patrolling the hallway. One turned and noticed her, releasing a blood curdling roar, and the group of five charged her. Dawn took out a black tome and began casting from it. A black, inky orb formed above her.

"Flux!"

The darkness flowed into the ground and made a shadow that moved to beneath one of them. It reformed around it and the orb exploded, ripping the death mask apart. She did it to a second one, killing it too, both evaporating. But before she could cast again, a death mask with a sword was on top of her. She jumped back as it swung at her, missing and stumbling forward. She took out a knife and stabbed it in the mask, where she knew the thanatophage was. It staggered back and fell over, disappearing as the two other one approached. Dawn took out another tome and cast from it, a purple wispy mist forming around them.

"Waste!"

Both suffered an impact to their masks, shattering them. She drew two more knives and threw them into the beetles. They faded away.

"Well then, they're attacking anything in sight." she whispered.

Before she continued on, Dawn noticed a torn journal on the ground. She picked it up.

"Grima's growth?"

She opened it and saw it had had pages ripped out of it. She began to read the part in it.

 **Grima's growth part 3**

 **It has been sixty days seen Grima hatched and it has barely grown. At first I thought it was because I had killed it twice to test it's immortality, but it still grew, albeit slowly, after it returned to life. I'm beginning to grow impatient. On an unrelated note, it appears that the thanatophages begin to spawn more of themselves if they stay on a host long enough.**

Dawn closed the journal.

 _Forneus...what did you make? What's 'Grima'? And he got more thanatophages? Master, what happened to you, you changed so suddenly. Ever since I gave you those...beetles...I caused this...didn't I?_ Dawn thought bending the journal in frustration.

Dawn continued on and saw more death masks. She hide behind a pillar and let them pass. As she moved on towards the stairs down, she found a few torn pages. She hid and began to read.

 **Grima's growth part 5**

 **It is the eighty day and I've discovered something fascinating. I cut myself by accident and some blood got on Grima. It began to drink it and instantly grew slightly. I decided to give it more. Grima began to grow rapidly. I was shocked, but pleased all the same. It seems that I've made a breakthrough.**

Dawn pick up another page and noticed it was written in messy, frantic scribbles.

 **I can hear it in my head I can't think can't think. It echoes in my head dark thoughts violent thoughts get out get out get out outoutoutout**

Dawn looked at the page with a worried expression.

 _That can't be good..._

Dawn continued down to the tenth floor and passed by several barred doors. They were all straining, as though something was pushing against them. Dawn quickly ran down to Forneus' lab and stopped at the door. An odd pattern had been painted onto the door in a deep purple colour. It looked like a V with six eyes around it. Dawn ignored it and pushed open the door. The oppressive feeling from before worsened as she ran into the quiet room. Forneus stood at the center of the platform, hunched slightly. Several death masked stared at him.

"Master!" she yelled.

Forneus didn't respond, he just slowly turned. Dawn stepped back as she saw the thanatophage on his head.

"W-What…? Forneus…? H-How long…?" Dawn staggered, unable to speak from shock.

Suddenly, the platform began to shake as she heard what sounded like wings flapping grow louder. A large black being, serpentine in shape rose into view from below. It was twice the size of a wyvern. It looked over Dawn with it's six eyes before cackling.

"She'll do...hopefully she'll survive, unlike that idiot." it said in a distorted voice that bored into Dawn's skull.

"What the hell are you?!" Dawn screamed backing away.

"I am the wings of despair, an immortal god, I am Forneus' greatest creation, I am the Fell dragon, Grima." it said laughing.

Before she could run, something heavy hit the back of her head and before she could comprehend the situation, she lost consciousness.

* * *

AN: I don't have much to about this, but what I will say is that strangely I had a lot of fun writing this and the next few chapters.  
Anyway, enjoy.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine: Defiled ritual

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

Grima stared daggers into the death mask that had struck Dawn.

"Idiot corpse! You could have killed her." they said, frustration in it's voice.

Grima's eyes glew a darker red as purple electric mist surrounded the death mask. Large spike erupted from the ground and pierced the death mask, ripping it apart as they separated. It turned to the other death masks.

"Drag her into the center of the sigil carefully." Grima ordered.

The death masks ignored Grima, instead shambling around. Grima released an eardrum bursting screech, dark energy leaking from it's mouth. The death masks gripped and clawed at their shielded faces, staggering in what looked like pain.

"DRAG HER TO THE SIGIL!" they ordered again.

The death masks began to move instantly and grabbed Dawn's legs. As they dragged her, her hooded cloak got snagged on a broken tile on the ground, coming loose and leaving her in only her light purple silk shirt and leather shorts. Grima watched intently.

 _I loath to gift her with my blood, but I would prefer to have some form of contingency plan. From what I got from Forneus' mind before it was reduced to mush, a blade and shield made to combat dragons exists. I need to plan in case I face those tools that would attempt to tear me from godhood._ Grima thought.

The death masks dumped Dawn in the center of a dark, crimson sigil on the ground that resembled the odd symbol on the stone door. Grima landed on the ground, using it's wings to lift it large body off the ground. It moved it's neck over Dawn. Grima turned to a death mask with a blue sword with black grooves on it..

"Cut."

The death mask wandered over and swung the blade at Grima. The blade sliced through their neck with some difficult and black/white/green blood dripped out of the wound. It fell on Dawn's face and mouth. Grima began channeling energy from it's body and the air, making the sigil glow bright red. The blood on Dawn began to snake its way down from her head and trace along her veins. Grima roared and began to chant an ancient sounding incantation that it didn't remember learning. It felt like instinct. The blood stopped moving and began to drill into Dawn's flesh, worming it's way into her blood. She began struggling and sweating, her eyes fluttering. Then suddening, the remaining blood tore into her, as though it grew bored. Her skin split open as her veins and arteries exploded in a cascade of blood. Her eyes shot open and she released an agony filled scream.

 **Meanwhile**

Dominic stood in the open room, looking nervously side to side. Rowan walked over to him.

"First time I've seen you nervous seen that necrodragon incident." he said softly.

"How can't I not be antsy. We were called to Thabes to help possibly capture an alchemist that probably knows magic, but before that we have to wait for Dawn to head down there and hopefully come back okay."

"She'll be fine, she knows magic too." Belle interjected.

"Yeah, hopefully…"

They stood there, waiting for another minute before they all hear a deafening screech that shook the whole citadel. Dominic shot a look at the senators, who were looking around uneasily, before bolting out of the room, followed quickly by his three companion. As they reached the stairs down, Victor and Belle whistled, their mounts rushing into the citadel from outside. They all quickly began to descend the stairs.

They rushed past several magic users who all looked unnerved from the previous screech. As they reached the stairs to the eighth floor, a mage knight was looking downwards with worry etched on her face. The four ran passed her and she glanced at the group twice, before following them. Almost instantly they met a group of death masks. The mage knight stood in front of the group.

"Who are you?" Dominic asked.

"A guard who decided to see what the hell made that sound, stay back!" she ordered.

She snapped her fingers and a spectral horse appeared beside her. The death masks turned and roared, charging the group. The mage knight mounted quickly and charged a whirling orb of energy in her hand.

"Arcthunder!"

A yellow book in the other shot open as she flung a bolt of lightning at the group. It struck one and blew a hole in it's side, before electricity spread through it. The death mask shuddered in place before a smaller bolt arced off it onto another, taking a leg with it. Dominic quickly drew and launched several arrows at the group. They pierced the masks of several and the death masks fell back, dissolving. Victor rode straight into the remaining group and loped off the heads of two more with single clean cuts. Belle flew over to the last two death masks and sliced one repeatedly. Her pegasus delivered a hind leg kick to the last, knocking it over. She jumped off her mount and drove her sword into it's neck. Rowan ran over to them.

"Okay, so that was too quick for me." he said dejected.

Victor chuckled.

"I believe that we should go." the mage knight ordered.

Dominic turned to her. She had messy short, brown hair and a simple dark grey leather armour.

"Can we get a name at least?" he asked.

"Emmalea, now come." she said quickly.

The group continued.

As they ran down to the ninth floor, a horrible scream echoed through the halls. Dominic grit his teeth.

"Come on! Faster!"

Emmalea, Belle and Vector rode ahead of Dominic and Rowan, clearing a way through the growing hoard of death masks. They reached the stairs down, they stopped suddenly. The doors on the tenth floor had been broken down and death masks filled the floor.

"Well, that's just fantastic!" Rowan spat sarcastically.

Emmalea turned Dominic.

"Give me an arrow."

He looked at her confused before handing her one. She took out a green book and summoned a ball of magic. She put the arrow in it and the ball began to whip the pages of the book, gathering a green aura. It exploded outward before imploding into the arrow. She handed it back. It hummed with energy.

"Well, fire away."

Dominic nodded and shot the arrow into the hoard. It struck a death mask in the chest. It looked down curious before it's body began to bloat. After another second, it exploded, releasing massive pulse of bloody wind that knocked all the death masks over. Belle held her mouth.

"Do all Thabes mages have this much power?" she asked.

"Depends on how creative you are."

They all ran past the disoriented hoard and reached the stairs down to Forneus' lab. They all ran up to the stone door and pushed it open with nearly enough force to dehing the stone door. The group instantly staggered back as they were met face to face with a large six eyed head staring at them. Victor let out a yelp as he flung his axe at the head in a panicked reaction. It hit an eye and the monster let out a pained cry as it backed away. Belle noticed Dawn lying on ground. She took her chance in the confusion and flew over to her. She was caked in dry blood and thin scars ran along her veins. As she scooped her up, Dawn opened her eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten: To seal a god

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

The first thing Dawn felt when she awoke was an unbearable pain that raked her body. She let loose another howling scream in agony as she faintly felt someone pick her up. Her eyes darted around quickly before settling on a Belle's concerned face.

"I've got Dawn! We need to go!" she shouted cradling Dawn as she jumped back on her pegasus.

She flew over to the group as Dawn looked over to see three familiar faces and a surprising one.

"Emmalea? W-Why are you-?" but she was interrupted by another screech.

They all turned to see Grima staring at them with a burning hatred in it's five working eyes.

"Okay, so what is that by the way?!" Rowan asked backing away.

"I-I think it's called Grima...Forneus made it…" Dawn whispered.

"Miserable ants! I will grind you to powder!" it shouted in a distorted voice.

The axe slowly slid out of it's eye as it heal rapidly. Belle swallowed.

"Okay, no talking, we need to run!"

The group turned and sprinted out of the lab, Victor's horse especially spooked by Grima's presence. As they did, a blast of dark energy chased them out. Rowan turned and used his bulk to block the blast, the force shattering the front of his armour. He fell over as Grima's head and neck snaked it's way out of the door, it's wing preventing it from following fully escaping the lab. Rowan drove his lance into it's neck. The group stopped.

"G-Go! I'll hold it off!" he yelled.

They all looked at each other before reluctantly continuing. Grima shifted its head and looked at him, the lance getting ripped out as it did. He gave a weary smile.

"Well, let's see how thick that skull is."

He stabbed at Grima's head, and the dragon simple lifting it to avoid it. Black liquid began to leak from it's mouth.

"Damn it…" Rowan whispered at a large ball of energy was hurled at him.

* * *

The group hurried up the stairs, and found that most of the death masks had cleared out. Distant yells echoed from further up. Dawn opened her mouth to speak but was stopped short by a burning sensation spreading through her veins, like her blood was on fire. The back of her right hand especially hurt. She gripped Belle tighter.

"If they're not here, then they've gone up higher." Dominic whispered as they ran up to the ninth floor.

 _No...this...why is this...happening?_ Dawn thought.

As they reached the eighth floor, they were met by a mass of death masks shuffling in the direction of the stairs. Victor looked around nervously.

"We...we can't fight through that hoard, what do we do?" he asked.

"My...my workshop. Go there…" Dawn said weakly.

The group looked at her before Emmalea's face lit up.

"Of course, you two have that passageway to the different floors!" she announced excitedly.

"It only goes to the sixth floor because of an accident...but it's safer than going through th-the masks…" Dawn added in a pained voice.

"It's better than nothing." Belle sighed.

They quickly made their way over to Dawn's workshop and found a death masks clawing at it. Dominic shot it in the back of the head, but it turned around and looked at them instead of dying. He shot it again just as it roared. As it faded away, a large number of the death masks turned and looked at the group, investigating the noise. Dawn struggled free from Belle.

"I-I have a key…!" Dawn strained as her throat began to burn.

Dawn quickly undid the lock and the group rushed into the small room, resulting in a tight squeeze. Dominic held the door closed while Emmalea began to pull at stones on the wall trying to find the correct one. Dawn grabbed her brass shield and a dark tome.

"What's with the shield?" Victor asked.

"I'm going to try something on the fifth floor." Dawn replied as Emmalea managed to open the path.

Belle made her pegasus fold it's wings and squeezed in, followed by Emmalea. Dominic pulled a wooden bar down and ran into the passage. Dawn knocked over her piles of journals and grabbed the wall lantern. She handed it to Victor as she ran out. He threw it onto the journals as he forced his horse through, blocking the path's entrance as they quickly caught fire. After a few seconds of running the sound of wood splintering echoed followed by pained inhuman screams. Victor looked behind him to see flaming death masks burst into the passageway, chasing them.

"We have to hurry!"

The group quickened their pace and came to a cave-in and a side passage. Belle made pegasus walked up to the end of the passage and found the back of a bookshelf blocking it. Her pegasus reared up and kicked it over, quickly escaping the tight space. Emmalea followed with Dawn and Dominic nearly falling over each other getting out. As Victor got to the passageway's end, a death mask slashed his horse's behind, making it rear up and buck. He fell of it's back in surprise as the death mask attacked it's back legs, making it fall. He tore the axe from it and decapitated it, but his injured, flailing horse blocked the path.

"No...nonononono! Calm down! Please! PLEASE!" he begged as his mount thrashed violently.

He turned to see a sea of flaming death masks approaching. Dominic turned and looked on in horror.

"Victor! Hold on!"

"Stop! You...you have to go on. I'll-I'll hold them h-here!" Victor said in a terrified, shaky voice.

He swung the stolen axe and chopped off another head. Dominic ran over to the horse and was kicked away.

"Not happening! We lost Rowan already! We're not losing you too!" he yelled desperately trying to restrain the horse.

"P-Please, g-get the three of t-them out of here." Victor said with a forced smile.

Dominic looked down before turning away and joining the three girls.

 _It was fun...goodbye guys…_ Victor thought as the hoard grew thicker and closer.

* * *

Dawn glanced around as the shrinking group began to continue. Several monks and mages were firing magic at the death masks while attempting to escape to the upper floors. Countless bodies littered the floor. Belle flew through the hallways as Emmalea, Dawn and Dominic made their way towards the stairs, helping clustered groups escape. As they rounded a corner, they encountered a small nightmare. Three death masks with bows were aiming at them, before shifting their attention to solely Belle. They fire their arrows and her pegasus instinctively held up it's underside to protect Belle. One arrow hit it's underside, while the other two hit it's left wing. The pegasus fell out of the air and Belle, still in the saddle, hit the ground hard as the pegasus landed on her right leg, an audible crunch echoing. Emmalea blasted them away as Dominic and Dawn struggled to left the dying mount off her. Her right leg mangled and twisted, a black bruise forming all along it already. Belle grit her teeth.

"Oh gods this hurts!" she quietly screamed through her teeth.

Dominic helped her to her feet and propped her up against his shoulder.

"Come on...we're nearly to fifth floor!" Dawn said quickly.

The ran as quickly as possible dodging death masks as they went. They came to the stairs up and saw four death masks running down the stairs. As Dawn moved out of the way, Dominic couldn't go fast enough holding up Belle. He moved slightly to block her and braced himself before he was pushed out of the way by Belle. She stumbled back because of her leg and saw the death masks on top of her. She was skewered by two lances as the swords missed. Dawn cast from her tome and summoned arcane symbols around the four before giant X's split them apart. Dominic ran over to Belle.

"Hold on! We-We'll get you to the surface!" he reassured her.

"No...you won't...go...live…" she said faintly before her eyes glossed over.

"No...please...not you too, please!" Dominic begged clutching her.

"We have to move!" Emmalea ordered.

Dominic looked at her coldly before standing up. He held his head down and ran up the stairs.

* * *

They reached the top and came to an entryway into a large circular room with a hanging platform. Dawn looked back to see the escaping populace of Thabes underground had slowed to a trickle with only one or two still running out. She went over the entrance to the stairs.

"Okay...okay, I...I need to do this…" she whispered.

"What are you going to do?" Emmalea asked.

"I need to seal this p-place. That thing...Grima...the death masks, they can't escape!"

Dawn held her shield.

"I need to seal this place shut. A seal that will last until Thabes is nothing but sand."

"Can you do that?" Dominic asked.

"I hope…"

As they spoke, the groans and roars of the death masks began to grow louder.

"No...I need time!" Dawn said frantically as she bit her finger and drew a circle on the floor in blood.

Dominic ran through the door and over to the stairs and began to fire down into the hoard.

"What are you doing?!" Dawn asked looking up from the ritual circle she was drawing in blood.

"You need time? I'll make it." he answered in a monotone voice.

"My friends died getting you out of here. I know what you're about to say. 'Belle said live!' and Victor and Rowan would say the same...but I prefer to die and go met them in wherever we go when we die than escape and get a load of money as 'compensation'. So Dawn, seal this place, and Emmalea, get her out of here." Dominic said firing down into the hoard.

"Get back here! We can fight them back from here!" Emmalea argued.

"No, if they get to the fifth floor, they'll just sprint out. Better to hit them on the stairs. Now finish that seal!"

Dawn felt a tear go down her face before returning to the circle.

Dawn drew symbol after symbol around the circle as she tried remembered the rite she had practiced again and again. She tore out the blank page at the back of her tome. Quickly, she bit another finger and wrote a binding hex onto the paper. She pressed it onto the shield and forced as much magic as she could into the shield, trying to force the hex onto the shield. Dawn then noticed an odd brand on her hand, similar to the one that was on Forneus' lab door. She felt a sudden surge of magic as the brand began to glow softly. The shield gained a purple glow that faded quickly. Dawn looked up to see Dominic being overrun by death masks. She turned to Emmalea.

"Help me close this door!"

She nodded and they both grabbed a separate door. They yanked the stone door closed and Dawn held the shield against the center of the door.

"Blast it. We need to embed it!"

Emmalea charged an orb of magic and used it to fire a large blade of wind. It struck it and forced the shield into the door. Cracks formed throughout the door. Dawn placed her branded hand on it and released a pulse of energy. Both the cracks and shield glew purple before fading. After a second, a muted howling roar echoed from behind the door, but Dawn heard it in her head, deafening loud. She held her head and screamed before collapsing, Emmalea rushing over to her.

* * *

AN: Despite enjoying writing this, I feel that I didn't do a very good job with this story. There's one chapter left before I finish this. I've a plan for my next story too...like two A4 pages of ideas...I'm planing ahead. Something I really should have been doing.  
Anyway, enjoy.


	11. Chapter 11

Finale: Cursed blood

 _Italics=thoughts_

 **Bold=journal entry**

* * *

Dawn opened her eyes and looked at Emmalea.

"Miss Dawn, are you alright?!" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah...I'm fine." Dawn answered.

"You did it, you sealed it. That dark and disturbing presence and magic, I can't feel it! You-" but as she spoke and helped Dawn up, she felt a slight headache come on and her vision went a bit red.

Veins popped up along the edge of her eyes as the red grew more intense. Her headache grew and Emmalea looked at her concerned again.

"Hey, what's wrong? Com-humhp!" Emmalea spluttered, staggering back.

Dawn looked at her and saw a spear of energy in her gut. She felt her hand crackle with energy. She stepped back as her vision went back to normal.

"What…? No...I, I didn't…"

Emmalea looked at her with a pained expression.

"Dawn...your eyes...something is...wrong…" she struggled to say as blood began to drip out of her mouth.

Dawn stepped back again as her vision began to grow red again.

 _ **Wretched girl! You would try to lock me away?**_ A voice asked in Dawn's mind.

"What…? Who…? Gah! G-Get out of my head!" Dawn said in a strained voice as her headache worsened.

 _ **The rite was a success, you are branded, correct?**_

Dawn felt her hand burn.

 _ **My blood flows through you, you are to be my vessel. Now release this pathetic seal and come to your god!**_ The voice demanded.

"No! I won't do it! You're that thing Forneus made! I won't obey you!" Dawn yelled defiantly as her vision clouded with red.

Emmalea staggered over to Dawn as she paced and clutched her head.

"Dawn...what's wrong!?" she asked holding her wound.

"That thing, Grima! It's in my head!"

Dawn felt her left arm go limp before it contorted unnaturally. Magic began to pool into it. Dawn grabbed it and forced her hand to the side, a beam of magic energy firing and blasting a wall.

 _ **You won't win this battle girl, even sealed, my power and will outweigh yours.**_

Dawn struggled to think straight. She felt her body fall over before it jumped back up, feeling stiff. She couldn't move, but her body stretched.

"Now then, let's undo that stupid lock." Dawn's body said, a mix of her and Grima's voice speaking.

Emmalea grabbed her.

"No! I won't let you release those things!" Emmalea yelled.

A single black spike shot out of the ground and impaled her, going up and splitting her leg and emerging from her mouth. Emmalea gave a shocked, pained look before her body stopped moving. Grima chuckled.

It walked Dawn's body over to the seal.

 _No...I won't allow it!_

Her hand twitched and Grima looked over to it. Suddenly, it flew up and punched Dawn's body in the face. It stepped back as Dawn wrestled for control.

"I'm not doing it!"

Dawn turned and began running in opposite direction.

 _ **Stubborn mage! Stop resisting! You are beginning to irritate me like that alchemist!**_

 _I don't care!_

 _ **I don't think you fully comprehend this situation. My blood is in you, cursed to carry it forever. Your bloodline will never escape my grasp. You are the first of the fell dragon bloodline. If not you, than your child, your theirs, or a descendent will host me. Then I will unleash my power and bring ruin to this world. I will destroy mankind and rule over the world's wastes.**_

 _No, I won't let you. You'll stay sealed forever!_

 _ **Or until some fool breaks the seal looking for adventure and power.**_

The voice fell silent as Dawn reached the third floor, her vision returning to normal. She noticed several mages and monks whispering around her, staring. Dawn looked down and noticed the scars all along her veins. She continued running until she came to the ground floor.

 _I, I have to tell the council._ she thought turning down a corridor.

 _ **They'll kill you.**_

 _Shut up!_

Dawn burst into the council room, making the senators jump.

"Dawn! You are alive! Reports of monsters flooding out of the lower floors have been pouring in." Atreus spoke in a concerned tone.

"I-I've sealed the sixth floor down. They...Grima...they can't escape." she said panting.

"Good, excellent!" Atreus glanced at her "Wait...where did those scars come from?! And where are the mercenaries?" he asked.

"They...they didn't make it...Emmalea, a guard, she helped them and also…" Dawn trailed off.

"I see." Gwendalin muttered.

"And...Forneus...he made something...something powerful." Dawn felt a headache come on as she spoke.

Her demeanor shifted as she felt herself slip away again. Atreus stood up, looking at the glowing brand on Dawn's hand.

"What?...hmuf...speak! What are you?" he shouted.

The senators looked around confused as Dawn looked up with a crooked smile.

"I wish she would not fight. It annoys me." A distorted voice said.

Grima!Dawn stretched and an arcane circle surrounded her.

"I am the wings of despair, the growing shadow, a divine dragon imprisoned in a mage dragon's body. An invincible god...I am the Fell dragon, Grima." It finished firing a bolt of purple lightning and destroying the roof.

Gwendalin held her hand over her mouth.

"Oh gods no!"

"What is wrong mortal, do you dislike your part in my creation? I know who you are, I have that idiot alchemist's memories from before I reduced his brain to paste." she announced with a dry laugh.

Everyone turned to her before returning to Grima!Dawn. As she opened her mouth to speak, her left hand jerked and grabbed a dagger. It stabbed her brand. Dawn let out a disturbing howl of pain which quickly turned to Dawn's normal scream.

"I'm possessed by Forneus dragon creation thing, as you can see, so please tell me you have a way to get it out of me!" Dawn begged.

"I don't know...the population of Thabes has been fleeing on mass after those death masks crawled into view. Not many remain, and that display of power and a rumor of some horrible creature thing that will surely spread and will probably make more flee. This will the end of Thabes I fear." Atreus sighed sitting down.

"It can control me and wants me to release the seal!"

"Then leave too Dawn. Hid away and ensure you never return. We will find a suitable guardian for it. After we discuss one finally matter." Atreus looked at Gwendalin.

Dawn felt her stomach sink as she left. As she reached the door, she stopped.

 _Goodbye Thabes._

 _ **Heh, you only delay the inevitable.**_

Dawn ignored Grima and descended the large staircase outside the citadel, a flash of red filling her sight.

 **Untold millennia later**

A red haired woman sat on the deck of a boat. She held an ancient looking book with 'The history of Thabes' written on the cover. A hand touched her shoulder.

"Hey, Celica, what are you reading?" A pink haired girl asked.

"Oh, this? It's a book from the merchant's collection. He said I could have it." Celica answered.

"Well, what's it about?"

"You would probably find it boring Mae, it's a history book."

"Celica, I'm still hyper from that last battle, I need to be bored, so let's go!" Mae said with a smile.

"Well from what I read so far, there used to be a city of mages near where we'll get off. But a long time ago, something happened that made the city fall into ruin, people leaving on mass. Historians don't really know why." Celica explained.

"Huh."

As Mae was about to ask a question, a loud groan distracted them. A man with blue and black hair leaned back groaning again.

"Oh gods it never leaves me alone!" he yelled.

Another man in green stood beside him tapping his foot.

"Python, you can't just laze around and do nothing!"

"Why not! Celica isn't doing anything!" Python groaned.

"That's because she's the QUEEN Python!"

"I don't mind helping." Celica offered standing up.

"Nononono milady! You don't need to!" the knight in green protested.

"No Forsyth, I want to help, Alm is helping."

Forsyth looked at her defeated as more yelling was heard from below.

"No King Alm! Not like that!" a soft voice said.

"Trust me Genny, I know how to-" a low rumble shook the ship.

Celica sighed.

"I'll go check."

As she walked below deck, Mae walked over to Forsyth.

"So, how long til we reach Archanea?" she asked.

"Around two days, but first we have to get through that!" Forsyth said pointing at several water cyclones.

"Oh...great…" Mae whispered as she walked away, leaving the two to argue.

The ancient book sat on Celica's chair, alone, abandoned, like the city it spoke of.

* * *

AN: The story's over. It ended on a...odd note, true. Also I had that bit at the end for no reason other then because I wanted to.  
I hope people liked the story, it taught me one thing.

I'm terrible at making up a story that either I don't have an existing story to spring board off or I haven't written out a plan for. So the next thing I write (which I've started a bit) will be more planned. And hopefully be better.

Anyway, enjoy.


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